The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Under the expectant gazes of King Yu Zhu Zaijing, Gao Gong, and Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen slowly spoke out Wei Guangde's suggestion even though he felt that the current occasion was inappropriate.

"Send money to Yan Shifan?"

After listening to Yin Shizhen's words, King Yu didn't believe his ears and asked Gao Gong in a low voice, "Does he mean to ask me to send money to Yan Shifan so that he can solve the problem?"

Before Gao Gong could answer, Chen Yiqin next to him had already stared at Yin Shizhen, almost wanting to burst into flames. "You are so brave, Yin Shizhen. Is this a bad idea that you should say? Don't forget, you are still Prince Yu's palace manager." horse."

After Chen Yiqin said this, King Yu's face didn't look good.

Asking a prince to bribe Yan Deqiu, who was notorious in the capital, King Yu couldn't believe his ears or that his ministers would come up with such a method for him.

Just as he was getting increasingly angry, a high-pitched voice sounded beside him.

"Just now you said someone else gave you the trick, who said that?"

"Master Gao, you"

King Yu suppressed his unhappiness and looked at Gao Gong to ask, but Gao Gong waved his hand to stop him. He continued to stare at Yin Shizhen and asked, "Who gave you the trick?"

Yin Shizhen was a little bit paralyzed at the moment. He was being stared at by three people in the room at the same time, and he didn't know where to place his hands and feet.

To be honest, Yin Shizhen felt a little regretful at this time and should not have brought up this bad idea given by Wei Guangde.

However, Yin Shizhen still had his own principles. Looking at the evil eyes, Yin Shizhen still suppressed his uneasiness and said: "Others are only kind-hearted and have no malicious intentions."

"I didn't ask that, I just wanted to know who came up with this idea?"

Gao Gong frowned, but still said, but his tone was much better than before.

Yin Shizhen glanced at King Yu over there, then at Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin, and then whispered: "You also know the method proposed by Wei Guangde, a common scholar in the Hanlin Academy."

"Wei Guangde? How dare you do this?"

Hearing that it was Wei Guangde who made the suggestion, Chen Yiqin on the other side couldn't bear it. He must have looked down on King Yu to say such a thing.

"Wei Guangde, is this the Chuanlu of Jinke?"

King Yu frowned slightly after hearing Yin Shizhen's words, and his tone was very unkind. He obviously had a bad opinion of Wei Guangde.

"It's him."

Only Gao Gong showed no emotional changes, but lowered his head in thought.

King Yu saw Gao Gong's appearance and hurriedly said: "Master Gao, you"

Speaking of this, he was interrupted again by Gao Gong's wave. Obviously he didn't want to be interrupted when he was thinking.

Perhaps it was because the people involved were obsessed with it, or perhaps he had never intended to bow to the Yan family or King Jing's family in his heart, so Gao Gong never considered this possibility, that is, to bow to that person who was too bold to do anything. Yan Shifan, Yan Donglou, sent money and asked him to deal with the Hubu group.

After all, although Yan Donglou is only the minister of the Ministry of Industry, the power from his father Yan Song can indeed crush those in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Those villains all look after the Yan family's father and son.

It's just that I once found Mr. Yan Song, Yan Ge, but he declined directly.

Will Yan Shifan agree to something that Yan Song doesn't agree to?

Yan Shifan's credit is indeed well-known in the capital as an honest and trustworthy man. As long as he accepts the money, he will do anything.

Thinking of the silver, Gao Gong came back to his senses.

If you have money, you might as well give it to Yan Shifan to try.

Although he has never done business with Yan Shifan, Gao Gong has heard that any request that Yan Shifan dare not accept will be returned in its original form. There is absolutely no such thing as a small gain, so there is no need to worry about the money being taken away by Yan Shifan. Don't do anything.

What's more, sending this money can also confirm something from the side, that is, who said hello to the Ministry of Accounts.

If it was really the decision of the person they all feared, Yan Shifan would never dare to collect money and do things. And if he dared to collect money and do this, then the instigator would be very clear.

Relatively speaking, the key to doing this now is whether Yan Shifan dares to accept the money.

But the most important thing before him first was to collect money.

Yes, in his heart, Gao Gong has accepted the method proposed by Wei Guangde. Although it is very embarrassing, it may indeed be the only way to solve the problem.

However, after a very simple balance, Gao Gong still felt that as long as this problem could be solved, it would be okay even if he lost a little face. It was just how to do it specifically that would minimize the losses to Prince Yu's Mansion.

Thinking of this, Gao Gong looked at Yin Shizhen again and asked, "What did Wei Guangde say at that time? Please recall it carefully and tell me in detail."

Although Yin Shizhen didn't understand Gao Gong's considerations yet, when he heard that he wanted to know the details, he had no choice but to recall it before slowly speaking out.

After listening to Yin Shizhen's words, Gao Gong nodded, "As Wei Guangde said, if this matter is accomplished, the palace will definitely lose face and be ridiculed by others, but wouldn't it be a loss of face if the Ministry of Revenue continues to be so lazy? "

After Gao Gong said this, he looked at King Yu and continued: "Instead of continuing to become a laughing stock, it is better to give it a try. At least it can solve the problem of insufficient expenditure faced by the palace."

Then he looked at Chen Yiqin and then at Yin Shizhen: "We still have to do this. Who should we send to test it?"

"Master Gao, this is not appropriate."

Before Chen Yiqin and the others could reply, King Yu interrupted dissatisfiedly.

Although Yin Shizhen repeated Wei Guangde's method and Gao Gong's words before, it seemed that the matter had nothing to do with him, but in the end it was he, the people of Prince Yu's palace, who lost his face.

"Your Highness, I have said before that it is embarrassing to continue like this. It is better to solve this matter once and for all. Let's consider this matter. How much money can the palace still give out now?"

Gao Gong has been staying in Prince Yu's Mansion for a long time, and naturally knows that Prince Yu has a relatively weak temper. If he wants to get him to agree to something he doesn't want to do, he must be a little stronger.

Moreover, King Yu is a very sensible person. Even if he was dissatisfied at the time, he later figured out that it was for his own good, so he would not mind these disrespectful things.

In addition, King Yu is a bit concerned about face, which can be seen from the fact that he did not file a memorial to the Ministry of Household Affairs despite being so wronged.

It was precisely because Gao Gong knew that King Yu would not agree to this matter that he did not ask King Yu for his opinion. Instead, he suppressed King Yu in a stronger tone, and then skipped King Yu to discuss the matter with the other two. The thing is, I just don’t want King Yu to express his thoughts that he doesn’t want to do.

Okay, let's not mention who to send to contact Yan Shifan for now, let's talk about the money first.

The first is to determine how much silver is left, and the second is how much silver should be sent to Yan Shifan.

When Gao Gong asked how much money was left in the palace, King Yu's face turned ugly and he hesitated for a long time without saying anything.

"Your Highness, you must have an idea of ​​how much money there is in the palace."

When Gao Gong saw Prince Yu's expression, he knew in his heart that something was going to happen. The palace was afraid that it would be impossible to expose the blame.

"There should be a few hundred taels left, which is enough for the palace to meet this month's expenses. The Ministry of Revenue owes Gu tens of thousands of taels of silver, and we really can't get the money out now."

Hearing Gao Gong's continued questioning, King Yu had no choice but to speak honestly.

"A few hundred taels?"

Hearing King Yu's answer, Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen all took a deep breath.

A few hundred taels of silver is a huge amount of money to put out there, but for such a huge palace, it is indeed at the end of its rope.

As a prince, he still has to have daily decency, so he cannot be like ordinary people, who spend more when they have money and spend less when they don't have money.

Some money, whether you use it or not, must be spent.

"This amount of money is definitely not enough. Yan Shifan's money will definitely not be enough if it is less than a thousand taels."

Gao Gong shook his head and said.

As far as he knew, Yan Shifan would charge hundreds of taels of silver even if he was hired as a low-level official like a county magistrate. If he were to become a county magistrate, it would be seven to eight hundred taels and nearly a thousand taels of silver.

Of course, if you were to be the magistrate of a superior county, you would definitely need more than a thousand taels of silver.

This is the price for selling an official position. It is said that there is a price list for those who want to be elected and Jinshi to choose freely, making it very marketable.

But this time, it is obviously more difficult than a certain county magistrate. There is no price list, and I have to go over and talk to them.

"Is it okay to write a note? I'll give him the replacement money as soon as I receive it from the Ministry of Finance?"

King Yu spoke at this time.

Being disturbed by the matter of Yinzi, King Yu temporarily forgot about the matter of face, but was guided to pay attention to the issue of Yinzi.

In any case, it was not easy to be in front of such a big family. He had to consider the nearly 100 mouths in the palace, and he had to first get money to tide over the difficulties.

Regarding King Yu's words, Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and others all shook their heads.

Yan Shifan always works with cashiers. If he doesn't accept cashiers, it means he doesn't do things.

King Yu could also think of making a note.

"How many hundred taels of silver does the palace still have?"

Gao Gong turned to look at King Yu and asked.

"Three to four hundred taels. If you can get through this month, it will definitely not be enough next month."

King Yu lowered his head in embarrassment. If the people sitting here were not old people from the palace, he would never tell the truth.

"well"

The hall was quiet for a moment before Gao Gong let out a long sigh with a look of decadence on his face.

Gao Gong knew very well that neither he nor Chen Yiqin or Yin Shizhen had much money at this time.

For officials like them, their monthly salary is only enough to live in the capital, so it is impossible to save much money.

In addition to salary, royal officials like them also have an income, which is the rewards from the palace. However, King Yu has not seen rewards for two years, so naturally there will be no money to reward them.

Over two years, the palace's previous accumulation has obviously been exhausted, and it is impossible to survive.

At this moment, Gao Gong could only deeply regret why he hadn't thought of this method earlier and tried to follow Yan Shifan's path. With his character and "honesty and trustworthiness" that valued wealth like life, he might have solved the matter long ago.

Gao Gong has spent most of his energy on the palace these years. Because of King Yu's weak character, he must try his best to provide shelter for King Yu and prevent him from being harmed. Now for a while, he really doesn't know how to raise money to fill this palace. Thousands of holes.

In Gao Gong's view, in order to impress Yan Shifan, one must prepare at least a thousand taels of silver, and maybe more. However, one must prepare at least a thousand taels of silver for the first time, so that it is possible to test Yan Shifan's limits.

We are not afraid that he will take the money, nor are we afraid that he will find it too little, but we are afraid that he will not take the money.

As long as he dares to accept it, as long as he dares to ask for any amount of money, he must collect the money and send it over no matter what. The most important thing is to solve the financial crisis of the palace first.

"Is there any way you can find someone with a strict mouth to borrow money?"

Gao Gong searched his mind and couldn't find anyone to borrow money from at this time. He had no choice but to ask Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen.

Prince Yu could not be involved in this matter from beginning to end, including the matter of borrowing money, which could only be done by them in private.

Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen both shook their heads. They had already thought about it just now, not even their colleagues or friends.

The key to this matter is actually that it is best to only borrow money from someone who is strict with his words and try to reduce the scope of his knowledge as much as possible.

"How much silver do you need?"

Chen Yiqin asked Gao Gong at this time.

"I estimate it will be at least one thousand taels, maybe more, but it would be safe to borrow at least two to three thousand taels of silver from that person."

Gao Gong looked at Chen Yiqin and said, "Either don't do it, or if you do it, you must prepare enough money. We are not afraid of Yan Shifan talking. As long as he dares to report the number, we will satisfy him." ’

"Two or three hundred taels can be scraped together, and even a thousand taels, even my fellow businessmen in the capital may not be able to come up with so much money for a while."

Chen Yiqin shook his head and said.

Yin Shizhen said something similar. In fact, the deeper words were not said, that is, they were in Prince Yu's Mansion now. If they were working in Prince Jing's Mansion, it might be possible.

When the three of them were at a loss what to do, King Yu said dejectedly: "If not, I will go to the palace in a few days and ask my father to let me go out and become a vassal." ’

"no."

Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and three others said in unison.

"Your Highness must never have this thought again. We will find a solution regarding the money."

Looking at King Yu, Gao Gong said: "Actually, it's not that I can't get the money together, the main thing is that I don't want to ask too many people to borrow money, so as not to spread the news."

"Hey, by the way, the person who gave you the advice is Wei Guangde. I remember the last time I had a drink with my colleagues in the Hanlin Academy, Jinda said that Wei Guangde might be the richest person among Jinshi Jinshi. He also talked about money. If you don’t have enough, ask him to borrow it and ask him not to charge too high interest.”

Chen Yiqin suddenly remembered that when he returned to the Hanlin Academy to do business, he and his colleagues had dinner at a restaurant outside at noon. Wei Guangde was also there at the time, and everyone said that Wei Guangde was rich.

"Wei Guangde? Is he rich?"

When Gao Gong heard Chen Yiqin say that Wei Guangde might be rich, he immediately became energetic.

Indeed, it would be the best thing to borrow money from Wei Guangde. After all, the idea was his, so it would not be leaked out. As for Yan Shifan, he had nothing to do with it.

"Jinda said so, but I can't say whether he can afford so much money."

Chen Yiqin said.

"Why don't you try to find him? Even if you don't have it, ask him to help raise money outside and then send it over?"

Yin Shizhen suddenly suggested.